Innovations Driving Digital Marketing

Alongside helping to prepare for specific industry-wide developments, digital innovations should also be used to establish and refine comprehensive marketing strategies specifically designed to increase brand visibility and maximise revenue.

Video

By 2020 it is thought that video will account for approximately 80% of all consumer Internet traffic [1]. Successful video content is immediately eye-catching and can efficiently strengthen the communication of your brand message and core values.

One of the primary strengths of video is that it can be used in a variety of ways to appeal to very different audiences. From interactive live streams to behind the scenes glimpses and 360 degree office tours, creating video content that your audience wants to watch has never been so attainable.

Stories

Interactive and engaging, stories are a method of communication made popular in recent years by Snapchat and Instagram. More than 250 million Instagram users [2] use the stories feature daily, which likely impacted Facebook’s decision to integrate a stories functionality into its platform at the end of 2017.

At a time when consumers are actively seeking honesty and transparency, adopting stories into your marketing strategy sooner rather than later will be advantageous in both the short and long term.

Voice Search

The rise of digital assistants such as Alexa and Siri has made voice search more accessible and feel like a more natural part of everyday life. An easy and convenient way to access information, it is predicted that by 2020 50% of all Internet search queries will be conducted by voice [3].

As Google Home pulls its answers directly from Google, refining your traditional SEO techniques and keeping on top of keyword research will continue to be an essential component of your overall digital strategy. Google Home also utilises information from featured snippets, so working to boost your visibility here will also be beneficial.

Apple HomePod pulls its information from a combination of Google and Bing, so staying at the top of the voice search game will require you to update your SEO strategy across several different platforms.

Augmented Reality

By 2021, smartphone traffic will exceed PC traffic by almost 10% and traffic from mobile devices will make up more than 63% of IP traffic globally [4]. These statistics are huge and simply cannot be ignored.

An emerging trend across most marketplaces, augmented reality (AR) provides interactive and immersive experiences within real-world settings through the introduction of computer-generated elements. Pokemon Go is often credited with the collective adoption of AR, attracting more than 750 million downloads and generating more than $1 billion in revenue [5]. Retail giant IKEA was also an early adopter of AR and offers an app that allows shoppers to arrange furniture around their home before purchasing.

Chatbots

Consumers now expect to have instant access to information, which can be tricky to provide outside regular business hours. Chatbots can now deliver increasingly complex pieces of information in real time, making them excellent tools to utilise in the provision of superior customer service and as part of a comprehensive approach to digital marketing.

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